Archive for the ‘Book reviews’ Category

I am totally addicted to reading at the moment and I’m loving it 🙂 I have recently been wanting to organise my finances so I decided to pick up Antonia Magees book Living Thin; One womans journey from penniless to prosperous in a year. What I loved about this book is that its written by an Australian girl from Melbourne around the same age as me which made it really easy to connect.

It’s not a how to book, but a book about Maggie’s personal journey to take control of her finances and find love. It colorfully illustrates all of her trials and tribulations of a year of tightening her belt, harnessing her uncontrollable spending habits and how she reached her goal of being debt free with $10,000 of savings in the bank.

I’m about to expand my business premises by almost 50% and do a major renovation that will see me out-of-pocket over $25,000. Not only will the renovation cost set me back but also the rent increase will almost double. So I need to have a plan to make sure that I can clear my debt and manage my new monthly expenses.

Since reading the book I feel great as I have cleared and closed two credit cards, booked meetings with a financial planner, a book-keeper and a commercial software designer to organise both my business and personal financial accounts. I have set myself a personal goal to clear my renovation debt, credit card debt, HECS debt from university and have $10,000 worth of savings in the bank by christmas which will be a first as I have always put my money straight back into the business or to further my education.

I always feel confident in a prospective book purchase if it has become a New York Times Best Seller and this delightful compilation is no exception. Made up of 101 Stories to Open the Hearts and Rekindle the Spirits of Women it will make you cry over and over. I have to congratulate the authors Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jennifer Read Hawthorne and Marci Shimoff for having the vision to create such a heart-felt piece of work.

Chicken Soup for the Soul like some other books I have read recently didn’t appeal to me simply because of its title and now that I have read it, it is up there with my favorite books of all time! It touched every cell of my emotional body and has made me want to become a better person!

This shining collection brings you inspiration and comfort in special chapters on marriage, motherhood, aging, bridging the generations, attitude, self-esteem and higher wisdom. It is a must read book for all women young or old, married or single!

Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin is as it’s subtitle states a “no-nonsense, tough love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous.”

Now if your anything like me you won’t even bother reading this review as you hate the title! It has taken me a couple of years to finally read this little book. Why? Because I hate the idea of promoting skinny bitchy girls. Mum always said “Don’t judge a book buy it’s cover, it’s whats on the inside that counts!”

If you can get beyond all the swearing and crude comments the girls lace through their book its actually got a really important message – veganism. The message is loud and clear and pretty much exactly inline with my old blog post Ethical eating = weight loss! It has a very strong focus on animal rights and environmental issues and how your diet can make a difference for both these critical issues at hand.

Like they mentioned ‘Book titles are important, they get attention and they make sales!’ Well this title definitely sent a tsunami through the book world earning it a New York Times No. 1 Best Seller status!

Mitch Joel is a futuristic marketing genius! I read his book in 3 days and have never taken so many notes and actions from a single book in my life. Well me and my angel assistants Tara banana and Radha rabbit have tasks as long as our arms to work through!

The concept Joel sings throughout his bible for marketing is that everyone is connected. It’s so yogic, I love it! Joel illustrates how businesses have to dig deeper, become more personal and get real if they want to survive in this modern era of technology. The concept that we are becoming more disconnected due to mobiles, computers and the like couldn’t be further from the truth, it actually makes us closer if we dare to tune in and open up!

The challenge is to ensure that you and/or your business is unique, informative and useful or you will get lost with the other million bits of information floating in cyberspace. I highly recommend this book to all entrepreneurs and marketing managers wanting to be able to sustain in a fast changing world of information and consumer behaviors.

On a rare wet and rainy day I find myself with the afternoon off so I decide to snuggle up on the couch with a hot drink and a long-awaited book The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese and has since been translated into 67 languages, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history.

I really enjoyed the easy reading and loved the hidden message to follow your dreams and the universe will conspire to help those who help themselves. Coelho writes about omens, signs and symbols that guide us through life, the universal language of the world and to follow your heart. This is a must read for those who believe in dreams and have the courage to g after them!

One of the magnamonous men in my life Trevor Russell has made it his personal mission to encourage men to ‘man-up’, empower them to become better men and teach them how to create lasting connections with women.

He has dedicated years to studying and researching the male and female interaction process, not only the initial meeting, getting to know each other but also how to development loving relationships.

He has created a program to give men the tools to develop the right skills, to then know how to take the right action to be able to effectivelyand confidently communicate with women. Being able to move away from imagined fears as 95% of men fail in their ability to approach and be successful in meeting women.

The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth by the late M. Scott Peck, M.D was first published in 1978. A classic book about the road to spiritual growth through discipline, love and gratitude, something I return to for guidance and highly recommend to others. The ideas put forth are timeless and invaluable.

This is an insightful book about life and highlights how our upbringing and family dynamics effect our future. I found this book really thought-provoking and relative to raising a family as one needs to follow their conscience and make tough decisions. Peck teaches and encourages this process.

My favorite parts of the book were the real life stories as Peck was a practicing psychologist/psychiatrist who reveals the secrets to fulfilling, healthy, meaningful and lasting relationships. It really makes you see yourself and others in a different light, as well as words and concepts we think we understand. His hallmark argument is that we so often view love as a noun instead of a verb… as something that just happens to us or doesn’t happen to us, instead of an ongoing task we must work at…that work, that action-is love.